Should Accounting Lead Generation Find Out Things It Should Not?

April 8th, 2013

It is fairly common knowledge that your accounting lead generation campaign can run into prospects who have a simple, investigatory request. You comply as a way of giving a small demonstration of what you know and what you can do. What if, during the course of this, your lead generation process discover something it ‘was not supposed to?’

When Lead Generation Stumbles Upon Skeletons

You might think that the title has an obvious answer. Lead generation campaigns are supposed to be respectful of privacy right? How can the answer should be anything other than yes? Well here is why: Such things are not always meant to be kept secret.

And when it comes to secrets, there are cases where accounting finds odd inconsistencies that could lead to something more conspiratorial in nature. The fact that accounting leads are not so large does not rule out the possibility that even the slightest oddity could lead to something bigger.

Still, you could stand a chance of being too nosy so here are some ways to determine whether or not your lead generation process learned about things it should not have:

How much of this was an accident? – Sometimes skeletons are found accidentally. In many crime stories for example, some characters would reveal a clue after accidentally knocking something over or touching a hidden button. What about your lead generation process? Did it come by sensitive information as the result of a mistake or was it in fact the result of what it normally does: give demonstrations.

Who led you on this information? – It helps to know your sources and by ‘know,’ your lead generation process has you familiarized enough with a prospect to determine their involvement. Did it come from a concerned decision maker? Being able to at least know who gave you this tip should equip you with enough defense to say that, again, it was just another day for your accounting lead generation campaign.

Should you keep this a secret? – Answering this question depends on the answer of the previous ones. If your lead generation process just happened to stumble upon secret information by accident, it might be best to respect privacy. On the other hand, uncovering something so sensitive as a result of your usual work gives you more right to blow a whistle.

Remember, when somebody tells you that you ‘should not know this’ they are either one of two things: right to demand your confidentiality or wrong enough that they wanted it kept secret. In either case, your lead generation strategy should be stern with itself while qualifying bookkeeping leads, tax sales leads or any accounting lead.